Federal travelers could fly faster under proposal

Two hours. That's how much less time government travelers would have to sit around in international airports watching the seconds tick slowly by, under a proposed change to federal travel rules.

Federal travelers are required to fly on United States airlines under the Fly America Act, unless U.S. carriers don't go to a particular location. An exemption also applies when a traveler would have to spend six hours or more in an overseas airport waiting to connect to a U.S. carrier. Federal travelers can go ahead and book flights with foreign airlines if they would otherwise have to wait that long.

Under a proposed change published by the General Services Administration in the Federal Register this week, the waiting time would be reduced to four hours.

The proposed change is written in a question-and-answer format, GSA's new way of writing travel regulations.

The comment period on the proposed change runs until May 7.